Airtel’s SmartCash Payment Service Bank commences operations in Nigeria

…Says operations to gradually expand across the country.

By Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

Airtel Africa Plc has announced that its payment service bank subsidiary, SmartCash, has commenced operations in Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the company’s secretary, Simon O’Hara and filed with the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX).

The statement read, “Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces that its subsidiary SmartCash Payment Service Bank Limited (‘SmartCash PSB’), has commenced operations in Nigeria”.

According to the disclosure, services will be provided at select retail locations at first, with operations gradually expanding across the country over the coming months.

Commenting on the commencement of the payment service bank’s operations in Nigeria, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Airtel Africa, Segun Ogunsanya, said, “I am very excited to announce our commencement of operations for financial services in Nigeria through SmartCash PSB. This is the beginning of our journey to revolutionise the financial services landscape in the country. To help further digitise the economy, and most importantly to help bank the unbanked by reaching the millions of Nigerians who do not currently have access to financial services by delivering current and savings accounts, payment and remittance services, debit and prepayment cards and more sophisticated services.”

Recall that in April 2022, the apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) granted final approval for SMARTCASH Payment Service Bank limited (‘Smartcash’) to operate a Payment Service Bank (‘PSB’) in Nigeria.

This came after the CBN had earlier granted Airtel’s subsidiary Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd a full “super agent” license, allowing it to serve customers of Nigerian banks, payment service banks, and licensed mobile money carriers.